Day 2 – A morning in Istanbul

Strolling down the streets of Istanbul early in the morning was nothing but a melancholy affair as explained by Orhan Pamuk in his autobiography of Istanbul. I tiptoed my way out from Istiklal Hostel as most of my dorm mates were still sleeping only to find the Sultanahment street was empty. What a morning in Istanbul.

The skies were gloomy and the wind chilled. It was raining hours before. As I wanted to capture sunrise, I followed the sun trail up until Hagia Sophia, at which point I decided it was a futile effort.

It was in front of Hagia Sophia that I met few photographers who were on the same mission. During our brief meet-up, we discussed about camera, photographing at odd hours and the right lenses to use during travel.

A great concern for a stroll around Sultanahmet Square was a pack of dogs howling angrily at you with no apparent reasons. They were stray and wild dogs. They seemed to be the guardians of the metropolis of 13 millions people. Prior to being in Istanbul, I had overlooked the fact that there are more than 100,000 dogs in Istanbul. It is interesting as Istanbul is also a city of cats. Haven’t I said anything about the huge size of the dogs? At first, I kept close to my new photographer friends. Later, I was so used of their presence that I didn’t bother them.

The Sultanahmet Square:-

As the crowds began to increase, the presence of the dogs was relatively small and hardly noticed. In fact, the sellers of simit, a Turkish bread outnumbered the number of dogs. However, during my short span in Istanbul, I saw a very large shorthair dog attacking a salesman near Basilica Cistern.

The dogs aside, isn’t the Blue Mosque magnificently beautiful?

Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque deserve posts of its own.I will write about them in my next posts.

Solo backpacking was more meaningful when you met lovely people along the way. It was at the Sultanahmet Square that I met a group of Indonesian men; three of whom are from Indonesian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey. They were entertaining an Indonesian who just arrived in Istanbul the day before. It all started with a simple smile. They greeted me in Bahasa Indonesia to which I replied in Malay.

I was invited to join them for a breakfast at a restaurant by the name of Pudding Shop. Seeing no harm to join them for breakfast at public restaurant, I agreed. I later explained that my travel plan included South Eastern Anatolia, Turkey such as Urfa, Mardin and Yuvacali. Upon knowing, they were surprised because the areas were still fragile from civil wars. They even asked if I were an intelligent officer or a war journalist to even consider going to war-torn destinations.

What I ate at Pudding Shop – Omelette & Chay

After having breakfast, we visited Hagia Sophia and Topkapi together. Always fun to travel with new friends, right? And having Didi to explain about the history of Hagia Sophia makes me feel like starring in an Indonesian movie of 99 Cahaya di Langit Eropa. Do Indonesians in general love history?